A Thousand Miles of Fire
by xFireWorx
Summary: AU. Mostly Konata-centric. Konata and co. explore a Zelda inspired landscape. Where will their epic adventures take them? Lines will be drawn and alliances made. Who will end up on which side?
1. Prologue: The Tall One

**Ridiculous Technicality Note: **I just recently checked this section and I found that this idea has never been done before which thoroughly surprised me, but as a result I feel very original (lies!). Theoretically, I guess this could qualify as a "crossover", but the only things I'm crossing over are themes and places as opposed to _characters_ and _storyline_. I will not place this story in the crossover section. Hopefully, my descriptions will make everything clear enough for someone to understand without having to play any _Zelda_ titles.

_Your thoughts- kind or not-so-kind would be appreciated_! :)

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _Lucky Star_®, or _The Legend of Zelda_® franchise in any sort of form shape or size.

* * *

"Tall one, chief's calling for you!"

From inside the dimly lit tree house a small shuffle could be heard from presumably a bed. This noise was quickly followed by an awkward 'thud' that sounded suspiciously like a body hitting the floor.

"...What time is it?"

* * *

**_-_****A Thousand Miles of Fire_-_**

_Prologue: The "Tall" One  
_

* * *

Noticing how high the sun was in the sky I internally grimaced. Chief Kuroi, or Nanakon as I liked to call her, may or may not have my head depending on how important her summons were for me. I strolled past my fellow Kokiri as I creeped to my destination. As I did I was greeted by some of the villagers once again reminding me, with the average Kokiri height being 4'2", that I was about six inches taller than most in the village. Hence, where my little epithet of "tall one" comes from, ... but I also seem to have the flattest chest out of most of the girls (and some guys it seems, but that's a different story) too...

Normally I think people would be discouraged-however-this trait makes me an _exotic_ good! I cherish it! Such rarity, and exoticism all in one! I'm awesome, huh?

"Konata! What took you so long?"

"Oh... hi there~!"

Chief Kuroi assumed the "scolding position" which entailed leaning forward, thrusting her hands onto her hips, and cocking her head to a slight angle. I'll admit this for some reason _does _actually make her a teensy-eensy bit intimidating although I'm a couple inches taller than her. She isn't the village chief for nothing!

"What the hell were you doing that took you so long?"

In response to this usual question I took on my usual stance. I could feel a grin pricking the sides of my mouth as I straightened my back and I lifted my hand in a "proper" fashion as if to cover it.

"Ho, ho, ho! A maiden never reveals her secrets!"

"You were reading those smutty books again, weren't you?" Nanakon deadpanned. I fidgeted just the slightest bit tugging at the "hem" of my bright green tunic that was borderline on scandalously short thanks to my abnormal height amongst the Kokiri. I was making sure that I wasn't flashing anyone my panties ... or maybe I _wanted_ them to see them kukukuku...

"Of course," I gave an enthusiastic thumbs-up to validify my statement, "So, what's crackin' chief?" I boldly chose to ignore the twitching that had developed underneath her left eye since the conversation had started.

"... Just go check out the woods. There's a pack of wolfos there that's getting to close to the edge of the forest so they could go traipsing into the Hylian Fields. Scare 'em off like usual, yeah?"

This was a relatively easy task. We Kokiri were generally a peaceful race, but we were also charged with the task of protecting our forest, the Lost Woods, from monster inhabitation. Believe it or not I was considered to be a "warrior" amongst our race. I was instructed in basic hand-to-hand combat and-I glanced down at my waist to check to make sure I had brought my "babies" with me-I was also taught to use these large dagger-y things. They were kinda big for daggers, but regardless of that they're my sweet babies anyway.

Wolfos were not an uncommon sight in our woods, but they generally didn't appear this often for me to have to chase out. Wolfos are kinda nasty-they're these steel colored big dogs that roam around in groups with sharp fangs and claws... and they're not Kokiri compatible or Hylian friendly. That's why I'm called upon to drive them out from time to time. Not that I minded-I was always looking for an excuse to leave the village and hang around outside.

I've wanted to explore the Hylian Fields myself, but it's so harshly forbidden to the point where I wouldn't even try to do that. I mean, if I thought that Nanakon was angry earlier I could only _imagine_ what she would be like if I stepped out of the Lost Woods without it being for the Three Tribe Union Festival.

I was turning to make my exit when the chief called to me, "Oh and hey Konata, would it kill you to pay your respects at the Great Deku Tree Shrine once in a while? It's already bad enough that you don't even bother wearing your hat!" I considered it for about half a second before deciding it would be better to pretend that I hadn't heard her in the first place. It was hard to take Nanakon's demands about this moralistic stuff when-,"Oh and Konata... can I borrow another one of your books...?"

I felt a smirk appear on my face, but thankfully by now my back was to her, "Sure chief. They should all be in the usual spot." Without another word I left Nanakon's threshold.

I raced back to my house and grabbed a few snacks of edible flowers along with my ocarina (just in case I needed to signal for back up, not that anyone would really be able to help me).

Also, in other news, I kinda suck at playing the ocarina. That's something I'm actually embarrassed about. I have no idea why-every other Kokiri is born being a natural at it... well, except for me. Whenever I complained to Nanakon about it she just laughs and claims it's because I'm "special".

Ready to leave, I skipped using my ladder down from my house and just dropped to the ground expertly because I'm cool like that~. I basked in the admiring looks and the usual "whoa"s that accompanied whenever I pulled that stunt. I was in a pretty jolly mood even for me. The Three Tribe Union Festival I mentioned earlier is coming up soon which means I get an excuse to see my friend Misao, a member of the tribe of thieves called the _Gerudo_, more on that later though.

This Three Tribe Union Festival is so great because we Kokiri, generally bound to the Lost Woods, can travel northwards to the Gerudo Oasis... (well it's more like teleporting because it uses special ocarina magic stuff, but you get the idea). The Festival is when the three "elemental tribes", I think we're called, band up together twice a year and we have a great big... party to celebrate our peace treaties and riches with each other. We're really just are partying to partying though, let's be real.

So, the Gerudos that I mentioned earlier always host the parties ... because they just do. Not that I have a problem with it or anything. The third tribe that attends is the tribe of water or the Zora. The Zora originated from an area of a river called "Zora's Domain", but I have no idea where that is. The Zora are kinda weird looking and pompous, but they can be a lot of fun when they're drunk as Misao and I found out last Festival. I don't know anyone in particular from that tribe, sadly.

The Gerudos are the most similar of the tribes to the Hylians, except they live in an all-female community and in the desert. According to Misao because they're an all girl tribe many _interesting things _happen~. I'm kinda jealous.

The entrance of the village was coming into sight now and I threw our watchman a lazy salute as I strolled towards the bridge that lead to the woods. I patted my "babies" stationed on either side of my hips appreciatively. I vainly hoped that maybe just once the Wolfos would give me an actual workout to help me prepare for the next time I sparred with Misao.

It's always good to hope, right?

Especially... seeing that if I beat her Misao promised to give me more "_novels_" kukukuku...


	2. Save Me I'm Lost

Taking advantage of the _**Snowmaggedon 2010**_ I decided that I would continue the next installment of Konata's EPIC journey! We're sure getting a lot of snow here… six day weekend anyone…? :D

_This one is a bit longer than the last one. Thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks._

* * *

"Easy puppy…. easy….Whoa! HEY! WAH!"

I, still somewhat confused, managed to dodge the lunge of the incoming Wolfos. Dodging here wasn't necessarily the issue (Wolfos are pretty _chunky_ making them not exactly the most graceful creatures), but the fact that I actually _had_ to dodge in the first place. Settling myself I shot the Wolfos the "evil eye". I swiftly took the opportunity to glance down to check my wrist: my eyes met with an undecorated smooth band of gold tied with a leather strap to make a bracelet, a present left for me by my late parents. I breathed a small sigh of relief. Not wasting anymore time I drew both of my "daggers" and gave a few good practice strokes with them. I could feel my hair, usually down and a little past my shoulders, swing along with my strokes as right now it was up in a ponytail. I liked my hair in a ponytail--I maintained my alluring _femininity_ and still looked _dashing_ at the same time! The Wolfos stared back at me unimpressed, hackles still raised, not budging an inch. I tried not to gawk at its lack of reaction.

Believe it or not, Wolfos aren't completely clueless. I'd been assigned to the task of driving them out of our woods since I was about thirteen summers old---generally as soon as they spotted an individual with weapons they took a run for it.

However, in case you forgot, today was definitely not the case.

Wolfos actually going after someone armed is something that hasn't been reported to us for at least a century... if they did ... you're supposed to... ah! I know! You're supposed to "reasonably dispatch" them, which obviously means to kill them! I glanced around in the final rays of the setting sun at the underbrush noticing an increasing amount of pairs of glowing eyes... all around me. I got the feeling that they didn't plan on retreating any time soon...

Now, here's my dilemma: what am I going to do with those corpses? I mean, seriously! I don't wanna have to like "hide the evidence". Hmm, are Wolfos good eatin'? Ah, well, I guess I'll find out today then!

* * *

**-A Thousand Miles of Fire-**

_"Save me--I'm lost"_

_

* * *

_Against the sunset the outlines of two mounted figures could be seen steadily bouncing as they progressed. The two riders were similar, each had purple hair with matching sapphire eyes, but one could tell by their facial expressions alone how different their dispositions were. One of them looked sheepish and she was scratching the back of her head with one hand and holding a map with the other... _diagonally_. The other one looked ... exasperated beyond belief. The angrier one led her horse parallel to the other and snatched the map out of her hands.

"... I .... cannot .... _believe_ I gave _you_ the map."

"Ehehehe ... sorry sis..."

"..."

The more stern of the two, Kagami, regarded the setting sun with unease. She still couldn't even see the outline of Kakariko Village, their destination, on the horizon. Their goal was to spend the night there, and continue their trek from there the next morning. However, it looked like they weren't going to make it before night came. Thanks to a certain "navigator". Kagami sighed to herself and resigned herself to fate and gave her ditzy sister, Tsukasa, a task she certainly _hoped_ that she could carry out correctly.

"Look Tsukasa, we're going to have to camp out tonight," Kagami dismounted her horse a red stallion named Orlando, "I'll stay here to set up some sort of camp... go look for some sticks for a fire or something..."

"O-okay sis."

In the dwindling light Tsukasa spotted the dark outline of woods in the westward direction. She looked over at her sister who was already engrossed in her work: kneeling down tying the tarps together from her tome-filled travel bag in order to create a makeshift tent for them. She nudged her mare into that direction and set off into a steady silent gallop across the Hylian Plains. Surely she'd fine enough sticks and stuff to placate her sister.

Little did Tsukasa remember that according to the map the name of the woods she was heading to were: The _Lost_ Woods.

Kagami grabbed the wooden pegs and a small wooden hammer from her bag and without looking up she addressed her absent sister, "Hey Tsukasa, just make sure you don't go near the--", Kagami had turned to face where she thought her sister was only to realize that's where she _wasn't_. She spied a small dark dot in the distance growing smaller by the second. Then Kagami also took note of the direction aforementioned dot was headed in. Kagami, utterly vexed once again, threw down her hammer, "Oh for the love of--"

* * *

I whistled a merry tune to myself as I checked the spit over the fire. I gave it a quick turn to keep the meat cooking evenly then I resumed sitting on the mossy tree stump as I watched it slowly cook. I hoped that Wolfos tasted good because it took _forever_ to clean off and remove all the bones from. The blood was pretty messy too, and I had to be extra careful not to stain my lovely green tunic with its black icky blood.

I let my eyes stray to the sky and regarded the full moon silently as I rocked back on my heels. I still had another day or so until I actually had to return to the village without Nanakon or the other worrying about me. I generally took the liberty of exploring for a bit after I was done doing my assigned tasks. I should probably make sure to get back around tomorrow morning though to report the Wolfos acting so funky. I could worry about that later though, after dinner.

Now, I wasn't really all that concerned about it being night either, seeing that I "dispatched" the rest of the Wolfos so I didn't think I had much to fret about, well except for the mess it left me to deal with, but I was "dealing" with that right now...

One, two, three, four..... I counted the bodies (including what was left of one of the bodies on the spit)... wasn't there five Wolfos that attacked me...?

* * *

Tsukasa and her poor horse bumbled along the rough undergrowth of the woods. The visibility was now practically nonexistent seeing that the thick treetops blocked most of the moonlight. Even Tsukasa realized that this probably wasn't one of her best ideas. Thankfully, Tsukasa stuck only to the very edge of the woods so she could return to the plains easily.

She was jarred out of her daydreaming by a combination of sounds: panting with a menacing growling. Tsukasa could feel her back stiffen and a shiver seized her whole body immediately. She knew Kagami was mad, but this was a whole new level of scary for her sister! She stiffly turned in her saddle to let her eyes meet...

...with the dark orange ones of a wounded Wolfos.

Before she could let out a horrifying shriek her trusty mount Celia unceremoniously reared up and dumped her right onto the ground. Not too much longer after her bottom hit the ground did the neurons connect in Tsukasa's brain, and _then_ she let out the mother of all screams as Celia bolted back onto the plains leaving her rider behind.

* * *

I set down my "Wolfos Ribs", as I just dubbed them, and surveyed the area trying to figure out where the source of the nearby noise was... oh, it was just off to the east. I groaned and literally weighed the two options with my hands: either find out what the screaming was about, or go back to eating.

I picked up my ribs and took another bite. It wasn't bad at all actually, despite how gnarly it first looked. I wasn't going to be able to brag about it at home though, Kokiri, as "children of the forest" didn't exactly smile upon those who ate meat. Oh well.

Then it hit me. I think I figured out where the fifth Wolfos went. Oh crap. So that's technically my fault, huh?

I sighed again and got up from the tree stump and threw the remainder of the ribs somewhere off deeper into the woods--whatever, it's biodegradable. I checked to make sure I had my twin daggers on and I tramped through the woods in order to actually save the screaming person "in time"... what a thought.

* * *

Tsukasa in her panic reverse-crab walked right into the trunk of a tree. The aggressive Wolfos limped over to her growling happily, realizing that it found easy weaponless prey, and continued to advance on the "cornered" Tsukasa. Tsukasa, seeing no other way out, ... curled up and resumed the fetal position.

"Aha! Found ya!"

* * *

In the dim light I could make out the outline of a wounded Wolfos, no doubt done by me, getting ready to spring on its prey. I drew my daggers simultaneously with ease. The sound of metal and my voice turned the Wolfos' attention towards me, and it faced me and growled. I didn't see any other figures in the clearing so I just kinda assumed that the "victim" had already taken the opportunity to go off and hide somewhere.

In a sense of deja vu the Wolfos leapt at me eager for the upperhand. I sidestepped it and flicked my dagger on my left, ripping its throat open without much of a problem. The Wolfos was dead before it hit the ground. Technically, you could say I did it a service by ending its pain from its previous wound so quickly... although it did come at the cost of getting that gross black blood on my beautiful baby and on a few drops on my cheek. Ew.

Disregarding my face I stepped forward to locate some grass to wipe my darling on. When I did I quickly sheathed it again, and I heard more movement through the forest quickly approaching me. Then I heard a voice near a tree on my right.

"S-s-sis!"

I blanched realizing that there was an actual person right there the whole time. I quickly took my gaze off of that figure to take in the quickly approaching one.

"Tsukasa! What am I going to do with you?!"

There was a shuffling off to my right, and the figure moved back to the source of the last voice I had heard. The other figure stepped out onto the clearing more into the moonlight. I gaped. Purple hair held back in "twin tails" (I think it was called), blue eyes, but most of all...

I pointed at her in disbelief, "You're _GIGANTIC_!"


	3. A Frigid First

_I'm sorry. Meh. It's really short, but juicy? Yes? Oh and please check in my profile for Tsukasa's map. It's awesome... not to mention EPIC. Yes, I know the POV switches to third person. Makes some things easier. Thoughts are always appreciated. Yes, I know I went crazy on the tildas (~) too.  
_

* * *

"GIGANTIC…!"

…

"GIGANTIC…!"

…

"GIGANTIC…!"

In a seemingly echo-less forest my proclamation resounded quite loudly.

I studied the twin-tailed one as closely as I could. Her face was suddenly obscured from view with shoulders hunched over, and shaking … from laughter…?

I noticed the girl I had saved from the Wolfos earlier begin to inch away from the twin-tailed one at an increasingly quick pace. The ex-victim looks almost as scared as she did when she had encountered said Wolfos.

I was _kinda_ creeped out by this situation, I didn't want to risk leaving the forest, I had more important things to do and, well, I was still sorta hungry. So, I turned about face to go deeper into the forest for some midnight munchies. Later fools!

* * *

**-A Thousand Miles of Fire-**

_A Frigid First_**  
**

* * *

Then the temperature suddenly dropped.

Have you ever felt that you were about to die?

Simultaneously cursing and drawing my blades, I sprang into the now frigid air. Flipping backwards into my sudden opponent's direction to get into close range if I needed to fight.

A shiver flashed up and down my spine. I didn't need to turn back around to know that the area where I was just standing had completely frosted and frozen over.

I focused my attention forwards and my opponent's face came into view. She was… I'm not too sure what word I'd use. Something, okay? Yeah, something.

That bad feeling welled up again.

"S-sis, DON'T DO IT! She's the one who saved me! C-could you calm down a bit?"

"…"

"A-and hey that's the first time you've done a spell without an i-incantation, i-isn't it?

After her alleged sister somehow talked her out of flinging more magic at me, she decided to politely greet me.

"You're really short."

Needless to say my pride was a bit damaged.

"..." It was my turn to take a moment of silence.

"Seriously I'm beginning to feel badly… just how old are you?"

"Sixteen summers." I'll admit my tone was a little curt, but I think it was perfectly justified. I mean, who starts off a conversation with someone by commenting on their physical attributes... ridiculous!

"Oh that's why—WAIT—that means you're my age!"

This girl _did_ have a point. She was significantly taller than me. Oh! I get it.

"So you must be a Hylian!"

"Uh yeah what else would I be… you're not? You don't look tan enough nor are you wearing skimpy enough clothing to be a Gerudo…"

"Ohhh~ would you like me to wear skimpier clothing? Was this skirt not short enough for you?"

"Sh-shut up you idiot! That's not what I meant." Her sister remained at the sidelines of our little chat. She was fidgeting continuously.

"So, what _did_ you mean…? Oh my~…!"

"Ignoring that and returning back to the topic: if you're not Hylian what race would you be then?" She seems generally confused making _me_ confused. Isn't it obvious what race I am? Last time I checked we're the only race that dresses in _forest_ green.

"That's elementary my twin-tailed friend. I am Konata of the Kokiri," I paused at the look she gave me. "I'm telling the truth! Honest!" The wary and guarded look still was plastered on her face.

"First off, my name is Kagami. Not 'twin-tailed friend'—"

"Oooh, Ka-ga-mi. What an _exotic_ name!" I received a glare for my efforts.

"Shut up." I did. She continued, "Secondly, Kokiri are generally shorter than you, but the main problem here is that you are completely out of the Lost Woods."

What is she talking abo—OH CRAP! I looked down at my feet planted in the dewy grass partially illuminated by the moon. I don't want to die yet! I haven't read enough smutty novels or I, I, I—

…wait.

How long have I been here talking to lovely Kagami…? The curse should have definitely have disintegrated my body by now. It's supposed to happen instantaneously. Even the quickest moment out of the forest leads to burning. It happens once and a while accidentally, but it's still a big deal because it can lead to death…

I don't feel singed in the slightest—I warily glanced back at the clump of icicles slowly melting behind me—almost the opposite happened though…

"Why do you look confused, _Konata_?" Ohh~ I like the way she says my name… Well, okay it sounded a tee~nsy bit threatening but that's alright with me. I like some fire! She continued, "Just spit out the truth…"

_**CRNCH**_!

The purple rage was directed away from me in the direction of the piece of underbrush that just snapped. My mind felt pleasure in how perfectly cliché the entire situation just became.

"Oh… you've _got_ to be kidding me!"

* * *

Eight hooves pounded the dusty ground mercilessly. Two silhouettes of racing horses contrasted beautifully with the sun rising in the horizon while... something dangling off the tail of the slightly lagging horse…

"KO-NA-TA!"

"I don't think we know each other well enough for you to be screaming my name like that ohohoho~!"

…and a huge pack of angry wolfos in pursuit.

"THIS IS ALL _YOUR _FAULT!"  
"TO KAKARIKO VILLAGE WE GO!"  
"HEY! ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING?"


	4. Tsukasa: Peeping Tom

_ I'm keeping up with my self-set deadlines? Nope__. (long chap though!) All I gotta say is that it's:_

_SEXY TIME! (mostly kidding_) _CHECK OUT MAH KONATA FANART (see profile)/other cheesy fanart for this story._

* * *

There were three people attempting to avoid pursuit.

Interestingly enough, all three were crying.

Tsukasa in the lead being the only person on her horse had never been so terrified in her life—even including the earlier incident in the woods! She urged her horse on in pure terror choking back sobs and hastily wiping the tear trails from her face with shoulder part of her shirt still gripping onto the reins with her hands for dear life.

The other horse further back and burdened by two passengers had the furious Kagami in the saddle. Her eyes watered with unadulterated rage as she turned slightly to verbally abuse the other passenger on her horse… the one miraculously dangling off of its tail.

"I'M GOING TO _KI_—"

"THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE! I NEVER WANNA GO BACK TO THE KOKIRI VILLAGE!"

The bloodlusting pack of wolfos maintained the same distance. The "tall" Kokiri continued to undulate with the horse's rising and falling tail as it galloped across the plains nearing Kakariko Village.

Tears of _joy_ were running down her face.

* * *

**-A Thousand Miles of Fire-**

_Tsukasa: Peeping Tom_**  
**

* * *

Unfortunately, Konata's joy did not last long as all three young women (even Tsukasa by some grace of the Gods) noticed that the pack of wolfos were drawing closer and closer as they raced to Kakariko Village. Many times Kagami and Tsukasa had the horses veer off course in order to try to shake off the wolfos (and in Kagami's case Konata too).

However, in trying this tactic the girls lost a lot of time and once again there would be a slim chance for them to make it to their destination before sundown. The girls were going to have to stop eventually. Both of their trusty steeds were beginning to get winded. Konata realized that.

"I found dinner!"

Kagami, confused, risked a small glance back to her … special "passenger", "What are you talking abou—"

Before Kagami could finish her question Konata let go of her horse. As Konata shot away from the horse like a rocket (from all of the momentum of the galloping horse). Kagami did a little victory dance in her head thinking she finally got rid of the little twerp.

Then, of course, her conscience decided to kick in. Not too thrilled with the idea of someone's death on it.

"Tsukasa! Keep going to the village! I'm circling back to help that little freak!" Tsukasa half-nodded and kept going-not processing much of what her sister said... as usual. Kagami released her rage-induced death grip on her stallion's reins.

True to her words, Kagami immediately rounded her stallion about—just in time to see Konata "fly" towards the wolfos still without her weapons drawn.

By the time Konata made contact Kagami was close enough to hear the drawing of the blades, but she couldn't catch any movements after that. Konata hit the ground hard digging in dirt with her bare heels to stop her forward momentum. Kagami panicked. Konata had just flew past four wolfos which would obviously now come after her.

The supposed Kokiri seemed to quickly take note of the stragglers in the pursuing pack quickly approaching her position. She had a wicked grin on her face. Kagami was slightly taken aback by this expression.

"… and I call that the double mortal draw!"

All four of the previously mentioned wolfos dropped in their respective spots—dead.

Kagami, realizing that if she helped she could possibly accidentally (?) freeze Konata, called out to Konata to bring her out of her boasting session, "Idiot! Pay attention!"

Konata effortlessly rejoined the fray. She dispatched the remaining wolfos with a disturbing efficiency. Kagami made sure her jaw was not on the floor.

_How the hell am I supposed to believe you're a peace and nature loving Kokiri? I just watched you slaughter a pack of wolfos…_

* * *

Kagami dismounted her horse and hurried over to Konata for no reason in particular. It's not like she was worried about the shorter girl. Nope. Never.

Meanwhile, Konata was languidly getting the kinks out of her back and shoulders while she was wiping the wolfos blood off of her "twins" on the conveniently located patch of grass. Kagami warily continued her approach.

"Are you sure you're a Kokiri? What happened to being peaceful?"

"Oh~ are you _interested _in me? I'm _interested_ in Kagami-the-tall too!"

"Don't call me that."

"Hm. How about Kagami-the-great?"

"Just... ugh! We-"  
"Oh! I know!"

"... what?"

"I can _prove_ I'm a Kokiri!"

"Oh yeah, you've been doing such a great job already."

"Tadah~! My panties have a tag that says 'made in Kokiri Village'..."

"..."

"Wanna see?"

* * *

"I see the light! Oh the _light_! No! Not yet! M-MY BOOKS...!"  
"Shut up I didn't hit you _that_ hard..." Kagami turned slightly to check her properly seated passenger on her mount. Said passenger was rubbing her head ruefully mumbling about Kagami's abusive tendencies. The moment Kagami looked away a vengeful glint appeared in the shorter girl's eyes.

"Kukukukukuku..."

"... You're creepy. Please stop."

"Why thank you!"  
"Knock it off! Don't you have to go back to that forest... or wherever you came from?" Kagami did have a good point. In theory, Konata should definitely be back frolicking in the forest with the rest of her Kokiri buddies (read: reunited with her smutty books). However, she had other ideas...

"Nope! Be honest with yourself! You _need_ me!"

"... What...?" The force and intensity of Kagami's deadpan could not be rivaled.

"Mhmm," Konata nodded to herself. "I believe today's events would prove that! What would have done without me? Watch the wolfos _eat_ you? (... Because I know I would've...kukuku)" Thankfully for Konata's longevity, Kagami did not hear the last part of her statement.

"What are you talking about? I only didn't attack myself because I was afraid I was going to-" Kagami did make a valiant effort to cut herself off. She had already comprehended the steep learning curve concerning what one says in Konata's presence (especially in order to avoid getting teased).

"Aha~ Sweet Kagami was afraid of hurting me! That's what it was," Konata loomed dangerously close, "wasn't it?"

"..."

"You know back in the woods we have a name for people like you... _tsundere_!" Kagami tried not to blanch when Konata said "the woods"-even if the other girl couldn't see her face.

"You know, my not answering was not an invitation to keep talking ... and what did you just call me?"

"Tsundere~."

"I'm not answering to that. I don't even know what that implies."

"You actually like being called that though, don't you? You little tsundere you!" Kagami vaguely wondered if the supposed Kokiri was trying to pick a fight.

"..." Konata cocked her head slightly in confusion. Kagami was mumbling.

"Repeat pleasee~?"

"... What does it mean anyway?" After asking this Kagami could feel herself get a little flustered and somewhat embarrassed. The young mage was _very_ thankful she was seated ahead of Konata. It was not like she was interested in learning a little about this ... creature named Konata. Nope.

"Well!" Konata took a somewhat enthusiastic-slash-arrogant tone to her voice. "It's what we call people that pretend to be tough and stuff on the outside... but are actually warm, sweet, cuddly, and of course _squishy_ on the inside!" Not being able to resist, Konata punctuated the "squishy" part of her mini-speech with a pat on Kagami's stomach. Everything seemed to go deadly silent. The Kokiri then proceeded to feel the crackle of magic in the air.

"... squishy? SQUISHY?" Kagami was a _tad_ incensed. "I don't even KNOW why I'm taking you with me to Kakariko to BEGIN with!" Kagami huffing began to seriously consider booting her passenger off of her mount.

"Waitwaitwait! Let's not get hasty! The truth is..."

"... is...?" Kagami' patience was clearly being tested. Konata clearly completely disregarded this fact.

"_You_ need _me_!"

"Goodbye." The next thing Konata knew she was sampling the dirt of the Hylian Plains and Kagami was slowly trotting off into the distance. She picked herself and scrambled after the somewhat pissed mage. Also, she began making attempt to remount the horse. As one can imagine with her height... they weren't very successful.

"No! Seriously! What would you have done without me there~?"

"..." Kagami pretended she couldn't hear her, or feel her attempting to get back on, or see her.

"They absorb ice magic, so if you were thinking about blasting them away with that-you know with that spell that you tried to get me with? I didn't appreciate that by the way-it wouldn't have worked!"  
"I can do light magic too, you idiot!" Silent treatment FAIL.

"Ah~ it talks!"

"Just get back on the damn horse before I pound you."

"Well now, that depends on what type of _pounding_ you're thinking of..."

* * *

Tsukasa patted her sweet mare on the head in a comforting manner. She looked around the semi-bustling and almost painfully colorful town of Kakariko village and decided to set off and see if there were any vacant rooms at any of the inns that she could hold until her sister came (as Kagami had all the money).

She began her wandering after she tied her horse temporarily at the east gate entrance into town. Tsukasa cringed. A sudden migraine zinged through her head. She occasionally got them, and the only "solid" explanation was that it was an example of her "twin power". This wasn't the first time she had gotten this type of headache. She knew that it meant that Kagami was angry which wasn't very common-as thankfully for Tsukasa her sister was pretty even-keeled...

Although, with a new potential travel buddy Tsukasa realized that she might have to brace herself for a sudden increase in migraines. Luckily, the migraine quickly ceased. Unfortunately, with the headache gone she looked up only to now have her eyes burning from the flourescent _pink_ building before her. Through her squinted eyes Tsukasa did manage to read the "vacant room" sign that was haphazardly placed in front of it. The fact that it was about half the price of all the other inns in town should have been a clear indicator of something sketchy to the girl. Either Tsukasa was a cheap-o or it just went over her head, but nevertheless Tsukasa knocked on the front door.

No answer.

The door eerily opened on its own (well, the owner actually forgot to lock the door...). Almost, as if it was inviting the innocent Tsukasa in. Without a second thought the younger twin entered the threshold.

* * *

"Kagami indeed is a very good pounder~."

A few people walking about in Kakariko stopped and stared for a moment... then briskly walked away under Kagami's death glarle. Konata dismounted the horse while still rubbing her head from her recent Kagami-induced injuries. She kept walking and accidentally bumped into the mage. Kagami noticed that Tsukasa's mare was tied to the nearby post-a sign that her sister actually did successfully make it to the artsy town by herself. Kagami couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief.

"So, that's why my Kagami was in a such a bad mood-"

Kagami turned to Konata quite red, "I am not yo-"

"Ah~! The bonds of sisterly love. So strong! So deep! ... Perhaps there is something else stirring beneath the surface ... A more _forbidden_ type of love...!"

Kagami made a swift movement in order to attack the Kokiri. However, her hand connected only with air.

"Ohohohoho~!" A shout could be heard from somewhere above. Kagami turned and saw the "blue-haired moron" standing on the wooden overhang of a nearby building. The Kokiri had a hand covering her mouth as she laughed daintily and looked down at the mage. "You've used that type of attack on me about four times! Did you really think it would keep working on me... _my Kagami_?"

The silence became deafening.

"Konata."

Not that this actually affected Konata, "Yes sir?"

"Don't. Make. Me. Come. Up. There."

"It's okay you don't have to. ... I'll just follow you along from this nice and safe distance."

"KO-NA-TA!"

"Coming master!" Konata did a precise triple flip off of the overhang back next to her more-than-just-irritated companion.  
"..."

_**SMACK**_**!**

"Owowow, master is so _cruel_!" Even more people than earlier turned to see what exactly was going on. Kagami became quickly embarrassed. She desperately wanted to take it out on Konata, but she knew that it would be thrown back in her face again just like seconds ago. Temporarily losing some of her vision from an obtrusive pink house, she picked up her pace and continued to search quietly for any other signs of her sister. She began to hope that she would be able to last a little longer with her new "buddy".

* * *

The foyer of the colorful house seemed to be empty. The floors were wooden, but the walls seemed to vary in color. There was immediately a set of stairs off to the right, but more importantly there was a door slightly ajar in the same direction. Soft noises and voices could be heard from it occasionally accompanied with a scurry of scratching sounds. Tsukasa correctly assumed that the house's residents lay beyond that door. However, she made another assumption that most people would make (with the exception of Konata) normally... but in the end she would've wished she knocked louder on this door.

"Excuse me, I would like to talk about using the spare room for the ni-" Tsukasa let out a high-pitched scream in surprise, "I-I-I-I AM S-S-SO SORRY!"

* * *

"No doubt about it! That scream just now was definitely Tsukasa!"  
"I would almost be impressed, but I'm too worried about how you know that came from my sister..."

"Well, it's exactly what you think my Kagami... I've heard the sweet screams of your sister before!"  
"..."

"F-from the wolfos attack, r-remember? Th-that's how I heard..."

"..."  
"Aw! Don't be jealous!" The look of death continued. "A-anyway I think it, the scream I mean, came from this vision-destroying house!"

"... Let's go."

Kagami brutally raced to and through the ugly house and sure enough found her sister... out cold. While she was checking up on her sister for injuries Konata began conversing with the residents: a female Hylian with long brown hair and equipped with a sketch book, and the other also a female Hylian with short blonde hair... and a bathrobe. Just a bathrobe. Surprisingly Konata's attention was almost one-hundred percent focused on the brunette as opposed to ogling the busty blonde. In exchange for "ailing the Kagami-the-great's sister" they would get the room for free tonight.

Sometimes, it seems that Tsukasa is more helpful when she isn't conscious.

After the whole "room thing" was settled Konata was still chatting away with the "residents": Hiyori (the brunette) and Patty (the blonde). Kagami's mind began to wander... attempting to put together what exactly happened to cause her sister to faint... She snapped out of her reverie when she realized that everyone was looking at her quizzically.

"... So, I don't advise that you tell her what you think made Tsukasa faint." Came Konata's voice. Yes, they were talking as if Kagami wasn't there.

"Hmm. Okay whatever you say." Kagami could feel her eyebrow twitch in pure rage. Did they really think that it would be that easy? She could _hear_ them for pete's sakes! Doesn't this Hiyori owe it to her to tell her _how_ exactly her sister fainted?

_**SMACK!**_

Once again Konata found herself rubbing her head. Walking away from the short girl, Kagami hoisted her sister up into her arms (ignoring the dramatic sigh from Konata at this) and stormed out of the room and began to trek the stairs. Konata realizing that she might need help despite her "beast-like brute strength" followed her out, even though she was still slightly worried for her well-being. This left the residents in the room by themselves again.

"Patty, what should I do? Submit a report of domestic violence or ... or ... START SKETCHING FROM THE NEW INSPIRATION I JUST GOT!"

Patty led her gently back to the couch where they were before. "Just do what you do best Hiyori." She said gently.

Needless to say, the muted sounds of pencil and pen could be heard almost throughout the entire house. Patty sleepily cuddled against her laboring friend as the artist continued on unaware of her surroundings.

* * *

"So, Hiyori is apprenticing here under some big hot-shot artist and Patty is a ... model? Did I get that right?" Kagami up in the room with Konata had calmed down a bit and Konata helping her put Konata in a better position in Kagami's mind. Even armed with this new information she couldn't put together how this would cause her sister enough shock to faint as soon as she entered the studio room.

"Yeah, yeah." Konata said casually trying not to cause another "Kagami Uproar®" for the next few minutes. She looked over again at Tsukasa and smiled to herself. The younger twin was dumped into one of the twin beds and was sleeping like a baby. Konata wouldn't have been too shocked if she started sucking her thumb.

While Konata was ruminating, Kagami remembered something that had caught her attention earlier (though probably nowhere near as much as it caught Konata's) ... the bathrobe...! Further pondering on this bathrobe led Kagami a little bit closer to the truth-unfortunately for Konata.

"Konata, can I speak to you outside in the back?" The atmosphere in the room seemed to have changed. Konata took note of it, but decided to go along with Kagami's request anyway.

"Sure thing Kagami~."

In a very short time the two found themselves "out back". Konata for once in her life was waiting patiently and silently trying to ignore the bad feeling that was welling up and all of her instincts screaming at her that _something _was about to unfold.

"What happened to my sister Konata?" There was an unmistakable terse tone. No deviations allowed.

"Well," she laughed dryly, "it's actually a _really _funny story... actually."

"..."

"I would love to tell you, but I'm not in the mood to dodge your raging icicles again~."

There was a silence. Again. The wind blew. "You wouldn't have to dodge my icicles." Konata relaxed her stance slightly. She looked at Kagami confusedly as Kagami seemed to be searching through her ever-present bag. She pulled out a small book. She flipped through the pages with a wave of her hand, and at that second Konata realized what was going down. "Ice prison."

"Whoa!" Konata, always on her toes, dodged a swirling cloud of snow via back handspring. There was a legitimate block of ice where she had been. Konata couldn't help, but find this situation familiar. She knew Kagami a little better this time around though, so she wouldn't mind playing around with her for a bit. She couldn't possibly let herself get rusty. She smirked at the mage from her slightly further position. "You missed me~! My magical _tsundere_~!"

The Kokiri could see the other girl's blood pressure shoot through the proverbial roof as she gave Konata a dark look and flipped through her book again. Konata just had to make sure her raging sensitive tsundere didn't break anything or wreck any buildings.

* * *

Hiyori and Patty looked at the back window half-curious half in awe. The mage seemed to possess a considerable amount of firepower for someone that had yet to attend the School and the other girl was expertly dodging it laughing and teasing all the while. Hiyori turned to her friend with shining eyes.

"This is what they call first love Patty!"

"... What makes you so sure...?"  
"Artist's instinct! Artist's instinct!"

"... You know a really creepy look appeared on your face when you said that."

"Shut up."

"But still, I'm surprised that you even have an idea what romantic love actually looks like..."

"What are you talking about? I draw it all the time... especially for _those_ novels."

"Mm yeah, but in reality I don't think it has much to do with it. You just don't seem like the type of person that would pick up on 'love-love vibes'."

"Well, maybe you thought wrong!"

"No, sorry Hiyori I'm pretty sure I'm right. You're pretty ignorant of it." She winked at the other girl which would have led to many questions from Hiyori, but sadly they were once again awkwardly interrupted by a startlingly loud knock on the door.

"Um, excuse me? Can I come in?" Hiyori turned away from Patty and motioned her in enthusiastically. "... Where am I?" Tsukasa continued in her trademark innocent voice as she entered the studio room complete with rumpled clothing and a gravity-defying bedhead.

"You fainted before when you um... anyway you're staying here the night ... for free!" Patty smiled at her quietly and Hiyori smiled brightly while delivering "the good news" and even accompanied it with a thumbs up. Tsukasa, kind of processing the information, sleepily nodded before she asked another question.

"Have you seen my sister and her erm... friend?"

There was a loud crack quickly followed by a crash from outside accompanied with Konata's voice, "Hey, what's so bad about having a peeping tom for a sister? I think it's a compliment to her proficiency in her trade!" This was also followed by a crash.

Hiyori nervously glanced at the window. "Well," Patty was shaking her head trying to stifle her giggles at Hiyori's misfortune. "They're in the neighborhood."


	5. Tsukasa: Victim

Excited for this? Good! No? … *sigh*. I stopped it early the rest would make it too long. Let me hear your thoughts via PM/review! I like to talk :).

* * *

_"Excuse me, I would like to talk about using the spare room for the ni-" Tsukasa let out a high-pitched scream in surprise, "I-I-I-I AM S-S-SO SORRY!"_

_Tsukasa had truly entered a situation she would probably never be able to handle. There was a brunette with glasses in mid-scribble on her sketchbook, but the real problem was the blonde "posing" on a couch ... with only a sheet. The brunette shot up quickly, clearly embarrassed, her glasses slid down her nose a little in her swiftness._

_"Wait! THIS IS NOT WHAT IT LOOKS LI-"_

_**THUD!**_

_Patty eyed the fallen girl, "Hiyori, did we kill her?" The blonde began to get up from the couch in only the sheet._

_"I hope not!" Hiyori had scurried over to see if any other physical damage had been done. She saw Patty's feet approaching her direction, "A-and sit b-back down! D-don't walk around naked in the house!"_

_"Alright, alright..."_

_"Geez, this wouldn't have happened if you didn't keep pushing me to do some semi-nudes..."_

_"But you really wanted to, right?"_

_Hiyori looked away and adjusted her glasses with an ethereal glint in her eye, "... perhaps."_

I flicked a sudsy strand of my blue hair off of my forehead and leaned back into the bath. Yeah, if I were to tell Kagami about how Tsukasa fainted (according to what Hiyori told me) I can't even _imagine_ how she would react... which is kinda exciting! I mean, judging by all the damage she did earlier when she was chasing me was pretty incredible! Luckily (when things were beginning to get _bad_), Tsukasa woke up for a grand total of ten minutes to remind Kagami that they had left their horses stationed outside the east entrance. I glanced out into the window it was almost ten o'clock in the afternoon-a pretty late time to take a bath... I would've happily taken one earlier with everyone else, but a certain person wouldn't let me bathe with her claiming that it was already bad enough that she had to share a room with me. I think she's just nervous about seeing my _exotic_ body.

I got out of the bathtub slowly and carefully. I was pretty new to this whole "bathtub" thing in general as I was more used to bathing in any form of running water. I remembered to unplug the drain and I dried off and got dressed. I creeped back into our room. _Fufufu_, "our room", I liked the sound of that.

* * *

**-A Thousand Miles of Fire-**

_Tsukasa: Victim_

**

* * *

**The room was pretty dark and both twin beds were occupied ... by the twins-leaving me with the floor. Honestly, I was tempted to risk another Kagami _Pounding_® by climbing in with her, but she had already threatened me sufficiently beforehand. I set up the futon and threw the pillow and blanket on top of it haphazardly. It wasn't too much different than the one I had in my house back home.

Home.

When I was waiting for the bath I took a walk outside and I broke out my ocarina to play the first of a song we call "The Lullaby". I think that's not the full name, but I don't remember what the actual name was. Anyway, I played that ... somewhat (my skills haven't improved yet). Ocarina songs to Kokiri often act as code instead of just mere pretty sounds. The first verse of "The Lullaby" indicates that the player is "fine and well, or safe". I didn't want them to worry. This was the longest I'd ever been away from the village so they were most likely beginning to get worried. In speaking of worried, is my smutty book collection safe...?

Hmm~. I'm doing a lot of thinking before I do sleepy-sleep time. Definitely unusual. Why...? ... Maybe it's because it's so creepily _quiet_ in here. In the village, no matter what season it is, you can always hear some sort of constant natural noise-it's generally the nearby stream, the trees rustling, and birdcalls, but here it's ... nothing. Ew.

Crap, I'm not going to be able to sleep here...

I got up as soundlessly as possible, gathered up my pillow and blankets, stared at Kagami's cute sleeping face for a few minutes, poked Tsukasa's practically unresponsive sleeping form, and then eventually left the room. I went out into the hallway and opened up a window and felt the air blow against my face. It was warm enough. With one foot on the outside window sill and one still inside I climbed and balanced my way out of the window and onto the rooftop with blanket and pillow in tow.

Thankfully, the roof itself wasn't too angled and the moon was almost full so there was plenty of light, so getting to the flat part was pretty much a cinch (especially with my _skills_). I promptly lay down my stuff and began to get comfortable. From my back I looked up at the moon and the stars (I had never seen so many in my life-the tree tops at home generally covered up most of them), I lifted my right arm into the air and watched my gold bracelet softly shine in the moonlight.

Feeling that the scene was melodramatic I let out a long sigh and let my arm drop back numbly next to me... my arm was getting tired anyway. My stomach made a gurgling noise. I patted it consolingly. Since Kagami wouldn't let me have the wolfos for dinner I had to eat here at this _super pink_ house. It wasn't really so bad, but we had something that I only had ever heard of before like once-a food called "pasta". I had no idea how to even eat it (forks and spoons are a technology that we never adopted in the village) and Kagami was shooting me these death glares the entire time. I would've asked her how to eat it, but we had decided that we're better off not revealing to the world that I'm a Kokiri until we figure things out, but did I mention how much fun she is~ when she's mad?

Still on my back I reached my arms out to the darkened sky, "Oh my _tsundere_ Kagami~!"

"Y-you have five seconds to make that sound better!"

My head followed the sound of the flustered voice and quickly found Kagami, "Stalking me now...? What devotion! I'm moved~!"

"Wh-what? I'm not stalking you! Don't be ridiculous!" Admittedly, my hands out of instinct immediately went straight to my sides to find my twins, but I realized that she was still blushing a.k.a. I was safe, "... I was just kinda ..."

"Kinda...?" Kagami doesn't finish her sentences when she's embarrassed it seemed.

"Worried! Okay? I was kinda worried about you..."

"Aww! Kagami was worried about me~!"

Even with just my sitting up she seemed to comprehend my intentions of _glomping _her. "Don't. ... Look, um..." She closed the distance between us and sat down next to me. She was _so_ red. "... Do you want to talk about it? I-I mean this is the first time you've been away from home, right?" I think I died at this moment. ... So _tsundere_.

"Well, for starters..." She rolled her eyes at that, but she continued to watch me out of her periphiral vision. It didn't look like she wanted to harm me for once... _ufufufu_! "It's kinda weird being indoors all the time, the food is kinda hard to eat, bathing is ... different than at the village, and ..." I wasn't dying to admit the last part.

"... And...?" Our roles seemed to quickly reverse.

"... It's kinda lonely, you know?"

Her eyes immediately softened as she had turned fully to look me in the eyes. I think I've already mentioned this before, but she has ... nice eyes.

"Have you..." she regarded me quietly, "contacted them yet... to let them know?"

"Oh! Yeah! I played 'The Lullaby' earlier so it's all good!"

"... Come again?"

"You know... on the ocarina...?" Maybe our ocarina playing wasn't as well-known as I'd thought, or maybe it's just her...

"Sorry," She was earnestly skeptical~, "I don't think I've ever have even seen an ocarina before..."

I turned to open my small satchel attached to the waistline of my skirt to find my ocarina, "I kinda suck at it, but..." My hand made contact with a smooth round object. I pulled it out. "I can play a little for you if you like? ... More importantly though... where are you _from_ if you've never heard of an ocarina?"

"Hey!" Her voice went up noticeably. "F-first off I _know_ what an ocarina is! I've just never have seen one before..." She fidgeted a little bit. "Secondly, my sister and I belong to the family of temple guardians in Lux." I actually _did_ know where that was. Quite shocking. I've seen it from the treetops when I've been out fooling around in the woods. It wasn't too far off the northern area of the Woods. If it's Lux... that would mean her family protects a pretty big and important temple similar to that old one we're supposed to pay homage to in the village, I think. I noticed Kagami looking down and then she fidgeted _again_. "... And I would really like that-to hear you play I mean." Aww, so bashful~.

"Your wish is my command master~!" I started playing "The Lullaby" before she could hurt me. The funny thing was that, even though I know compared to the other Kokiri I suck, she seemed to be somewhat impressed with my playing. Maybe I've gotten a little better. Generally, I like to close my eyes when I play, but I was a little more interested in watching Kagami's reactions from time to time at the end she closed her eyes and hummed along. Ah, we are such a perfect duet! I finished with my trademark half-baked flourish.

"That was actually ... pretty good."

"Thank you, thank you. Yeah, the first half of that song is how I contacted home and let them know I'm okay."

"A signal? And you called that song 'The Lullaby'... that's short for 'Zelda's Lullaby', right?" I looked away in a cold sweat. Yeah, that's right. She knew more about songs than I did... _Sigh.  
_

"Uh, yeah_... _How'd you know that...?"

I got a curious look then followed by one of realization. This could be interesting. "Well, it's a pretty well-known song among Hylians. We have to learn it for school?"  
"School?"

"... Do I have to explain what that is too?"

"No, no. I've read about schools before so I'm pretty familiar with them I would say..." Thank the goddesses for smutty books. They come in handy. The "school" is a popular setting for them. They sound like quite kinky places if you ask me.

"Oh what kind of books?" ... This is bad. This is very bad. DO A BARREL ROLL!

"A-anyway, if you're from Lux why were you heading to Kakariko?" Diversionary tactic, please work!

"Oh well, Tsukasa and I are attending the school at Castle Town. Although, we might be late at this rate..."

"Okay, but that doesn't explain why Tsukasa was at the Woods..."

Kagami blanched. She rocked back on her hands and kicked her legs around idly. "... I asked her to get firewood because we were planning on camping out on the Plains for a night. Before I could warn her about the Lost Woods she had already left..."

"Ah, and that's how she 'met' me... so to speak. Just one more thing?"  
"Go ahead." She was beginning to look a little sleepy. Hehehe.

"It should just be a day from Lux to Kakariko, especially if you're on horses..."

"How do you even know that you little forest creature?" She smiled at me. "... Tsukasa had the map."

"Oh." There was no more explanation than that necessary. There was a silence and then we both looked at each other curiously out of the corners of our eyes. Our laughter filled the night.

* * *

Kagami would never find out the reason why Konata decided to sleep outside in the first place. In fact, she only realized that she forgot to ask Konata about it as soon as she got back into bed after the Kokiri fell asleep. She sighed reflecting back on the events of the night before and continued packing. She spared her still slumbering sister a glance before she finished the final preparations of both her and Tsukasa's stuff.

Now came the difficult part: waking Tsukusa.

The more air-headed twin never woke from touch nor sound. Getting her up was an epic journey itself. Tsukasa mumbled something and rolled over. Kagami gave up and began to head downstairs where everyone else was waiting. Unfortunately for Tsukasa, her deep sleeping was about to meet its match.

* * *

"WAIT! You are the illustrator for the Love Me Baby novel series?"

Hiyori shifted her feet and eyes away, "Er... yeah."

Patty walked over and placed her hands on Hiyori's shoulders. The artist stiffened a bit at the close contact. This was not too lost on Konata. Patty continued the conversation casually, "Yeah she is! She's wonderful isn't she? Top grade!"

The blue haired girl wondered for a moment whether they were talking about Hiyori's _art_ or just _Hiyori_. She had more important things to find out though, however. "C-can I have an autograph? Do you know the author?" There was a somewhat hysterical note in her voice compelling Hiyori to quickly find a brand new recently published novel in the series to find.

"Sure. I'll write you one right this moment." Hiyori quickly scribbled fancily on one of the novels she had lying around in a black marker and handed to a starstruck Konata. She took off her glasses and wiped them on her shirt and then placed them back on her nose. "... but you know about the author ... shouldn't I be asking you that?" She studied Konata, who was currently rubbing the book against her face and spinning around in glee, carefully.

She stopped spinning at the question. "... what?"

"Oh, nevermind. Of course you wouldn't know..."

Blatantly ignoring the dubious statement, Konata hurriedly placed the new novel as if it were precious metal in her small backpack that she had picked up in Kakariko earlier that morning. The sound of someone descending the stairs could be heard.

Kagami finished making her way down the stairs. Her eyes were uncharacteristically cloudy. "Mornin' guys."

"Aha! I knew it was my Kagami-I could tell by the heavy footsteps!"

The mage was no longer sleepy, "Sh-shut it! It's all because...!"  
"... of your midnight visit, right? Don't worry I appreciated it!"

Hiyori's right eye visibly twitched at the "midnight visit" part. She started frantically looking around for something. Patty nonchalantly handed the sketchbook and pencil to her. Hiyori went to "work", ignoring the shouts of Kagami, the laughter of Konata, the sighs of Patty, and the scuffling noises happening all around her house. By the time she looked up she noticed that Konata's face had the angry red imprint of a hand on it. She was still grinning like a fool nonetheless-probably because Kagami was still beet red.

"A-anyway, there's something more important than this..." The mage started. "We obviously can't leave until everyone is ready, but my sister... won't wake up again."  
Konata's eyes gleamed and she raised her hand, "Don't worry! I'll take care of it!"

"..." Kagami looked apprehensive to say the least.

"Don't worry my _tsundere_~. I'm an expert~!"

"D-don't call me that!" A more ominous thought then dawned on the young mage. "Wait! What do you mean by 'expert'?" Konata had already disappeared. Kagami got a really bad feeling (not unlike the ones that Konata got before Kagami flung spells at her), while Hiyori's artist intution commanded her to go upstairs. Both girls raced up the stairs, followed by a sighing Patty.

Kagami and Hiyori's timing was impeccable-fortunately for Hiyori and unfortunately for Kagami.

"The prince always wakes the slumbering princess with a _kiss_!" Konata concluded proudly. Kagami choked on air. Hiyori whipped out her sketchbook. Patty rolled her eyes... she knew what was coming.

"Don't worry Kagami," Konata turned to the mage. "_true_ love always waits!" She turned towards her twin and began to lean into Tsukasa's face. Time slowed. Kagami continued to choke on air. Konata's face got closer. Hiyori's sketching speed tripled. Konata's face got _even_ closer.

Tsukasa's eyes snapped wide open. "NO! NOT THE DRILLS!" Still somewhat asleep, Tsukasa "reflexively" nailed a killer left hook right into Konata's abdomen. The Kokiri was sent flying into a nearby wall. How no damage was done to the wall remained a mystery. Kagami started hysterically laughing out of pure relief. Hiyori looked somewhat disappointed and Patty comforted her softly. Tsukasa sat up in bed, blinking, and looked around very confused.

Konata, spread-eagle on the floor, grumbled to herself. "They may look totally opposite of each other on the inside, but on the inside... they both are _angry_."

* * *

The twins and Konata left Kakariko shortly after Tsukasa's waking. They bid their farewells to the occupants of the house, and they stopped at a shop or two on the way out to buy some food for their trip. The Kokiri thanked Hiyori close to a million times for giving her the autographed novel.

They had just left the outskirts of Kakariko and many farmlands could be seen on the horizon to the west. Konata had been "unnaturally quiet" (according to Kagami) as she had been engrossed in reading the new novel she had received from the young artistic hostess. Kagami, deep in concentration, sat on her trotting horse stretching Tsukasa's map out in front of her. Trying to ignore the cheapness of it. "Okay. To get to the castle town it should only take us about two days if we follow the _correct _course." Tsukasa looked away nervously. "Also, keep in mind that we're going to start off-"

"Cuddly Kagami time!"

"G-get your arms off of me you crazed midget!"

"Noo~!"

"... Konata!" The signature warning tone could be heard in her voice.

"... Playing hard to get, eh Kagami?"

"GET OFF!"

Tsukasa sighed. Forget about being on time for the start of school, were they ever going to make it to the castle town...?


	6. The Princess

_Thanks for all the feedback on the last installment everyone! I have a question that I want some input on: why do people tend to make Konata and Misao enemies in their stories? I don't see that they have any legitimate dislike for each other in the anime… I know that they both have a taste for torturing Kagami, but they never seem to fight over her much._

_Also, please vote in the poll on my profile if you can?_

_As always I'd love even more thoughts-feel free to review (obvious…) or even PM me! I don't bite. Also, I finally learned how to jerk.  
_

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* * *

_

A day into their journey to the castle town of Hyrule, Konata found herself shifting between casually conversing with the Hiiragis, bothering Kagami and sleeping. Yes, Konata had managed to master the art of _sleeping_ on a speeding horse. Apparently, compared to sleeping in their huts during the storm and monsoon season in the "woods", sleeping on a galloping horse was nothing… if one was tired enough.

Kagami and Tsukasa began slowing down the pace of their horses to a light cantor as the sun had climbed to its zenith for the day. They looked to the west for the Zora River to let their steeds cool off and have a fresh drink. Konata woke with a start and as she would claim "reflexively" grabbed Kagami to "steady herself" and that her hands just "happened" to end up on Kagami's chest…. This of course led to Kagami "reflexively" abusing her.

Tsukasa just watched, slightly disturbed.

Kagami wandered away to look for something for snacks until they stopped again for the night. Tsukasa stayed put by the river with Konata watching both horses and the blue-haired girl. The Kokiri sat by the riverbank and examined the newly budding shrubs and flowers on the very edge. She turned to the younger Hiiragi twin and asked a serious question for once, "Did the _alba lilies_ bloom yet?"

Confused about where the question was going she answered, "Yeah, back at home just about a week ago they started blooming…" She chose to ignore the fact that Konata would know the specific types of flowers growing by her house. Konata is not a creeper. Konata is _not _a-well, okay maybe a _little_ bit, but she intends well ... most of the time.

"Aha! So we have only a couple of more weeks until spring is in full swing~!"

"Sure…?"

"Hm…" Konata stared off into the distance—specifically eastward where her home, the Lost Woods, was. The first of elemental tribe festival of the year would be held soon. Would she be back in time to see Misao? Could she really even _go_ back? Was Misao going to steal her _stash_?

"Hey! _Hey_!" Konata blinked for a second and then saw Kagami waving a hand in front of her face.

"Oh Kagami~."

"Geez! Where were you just now?"

"Ah, I was thinking of a friend…"

* * *

**-A Thousand Miles of Fire-**

_The Princess_

**

* * *

**

The brunette had originally left the desert to sneak into the Lost Woods to see her bluenette Kokiri friend, but as soon as she got in the area she heard from he chief herself that Konata wouldn't be back home for a while. Nanako was sketchy on details as usual. She claimed that she was too busy looking for Konata's "stash" or whatever that meant.

Instead of returning back to her village at the heart of the lone Gerudo desert she decided to make the most of her trip out of the mountainous realm. She made the quick decision to head towards Hyrule-not the castle town, but _the_ castle itself.

Misao had always been curious and wary of Hyrule. As a Gerudo she wasn't exactly encouraged to be visiting (Gerudo-Hylian relations were never good), but Sshe had always been told by the clan leader, Nabooru, that the greatest goal and glory that any Gerudo could achieve was getting to the princess of Hyrule. A young Misao had asked why and all she got was:

"_Trust me. In a few years and if that situation were to ever take place—you'd know exactly what to do."_

She looked around the spacious hallways all made of stone and the floors covered in the finest carpets. Unfortunately, it was indeed a few years later and Misao still had no idea what Nabooru was referring to… oh, and here she was standing in the highest tower of the Hyrule Castle… completely unnoticed. A lilac chandelier dangled above her head mounted in the oddly shaped ceiling. The rug beneath her feet was a shade of violet. The walls were colored a tint of periwinkle.

Everything. Purple.

Misao suddenly felt dizzy in the onslaught of color assaulting her previously unprepared eyes. After living out in the desert everything was a nice _biege_. It generally took her a while to adjust her eyes to her Kokiri friend's deep green outfit, but this was just ...

"UGH!"

Exactly. _Wait!_

Misao turned abruptly to the source of the groan-another room she hadn't seen earlier. The large wooden door was somewhat open. Her somewhat-keen Gerudo senses told her it was safe to pursue because it didn't sound like the _other kind_ of groaning. She had enough experience hearing that while she was wandering the fortress too late at night. The Gerudo shook her head and pocketed a very purple and expensive looking decoration from an abandoned table. She continued her way to the slightly ajar door. Using her super-stealth _skillz_ that she learned from Konata, Misao creeped and sidled to the edge of the door and turned and took a quick peek in. There were two people in the room. One was standing and in standard-issue armor , while the other one was sitting at a large fancy desk with her back turned to the door. She hid herself again after the quick glance. Thankfully, the two seemed to be relatively deep in conversation. The Gerudo had no moral dilemmas about eavesdropping.

"... Ah, I'm sorry to hear that about the council. That paperwork must _suck_."

"I appreciate your condolence Captain Yui, but it can't be helped."

"Yeah! That's the right attitude! The council wants the well-being of the people just as much as you do, y'know!"

"... I wonder..."

"Huh? Did you say something...?"

"Hm? ... Oh no I didn't say anything. Maybe, you heard something from outside. I left the windows open."

"Well, alright! I gotta get back to training the maggots. Otherwise, some scoundrel might come sneaking into the castle..." Misao blanched. "Keep those windows open. This room is so high up that I worry it doesn't get enough air circulation. It might be bad for your health, y'know?"

"Captain, you worry too much. Although, in speaking of health... how is your younger sister doing anyway?"

"Oh, Yutaka? She was doing really well the last time I heard from her at... that place, uh, Eldin! Yeah, Eldin! It's got some nice pure air there! She hasn't gotten sick yet!"

"Oh that's wonderful."

"Yeah, well gotta go! Later!"

Deciding that being seen in someone in a suit of armor would probably lead to bad things, Misao's eyes darted around as she heard footsteps grow closer towards the door.

"Uwah!" Yui stood at the entrance now facing into the hallway. She stretched her arms a bit as she let out the big yawn. "Time to get back to my trainees~!" The Gerudo thought that tilt in her voice sounded very familiar, but she somewhat shrugged to herself deciding not to ponder it further for now. She had more pressing matters. The Gerudo continued to cling onto the chandelier dangling off of it trying her best not to swing back and forth. She silently watched the green haired guard walk right under her and begin to go down a set of stairs. Safe!

Of course, now there was another problem: how was Misao going to get down without either being too loud, or breaking anything?

She peered down below, looking for something comfy to land on. The carpet itself looked rather plushy, but she would need just a little more something to prevent any noise from her landing. She wasn't quite as nimble as her Kokiri friend, but she wasn't so klutzy herself. Now, what was she going to use to help her land. She looked around the room in complete vain. She left all of her supplies (including any weapons) on her trusty brown stallion, Kvar. In other words, poor Misao was in a major pinch... not to mention the fact that her arms were getting tired and that there was no way she was going to risk climbing onto the chandelier from this position. Misao sighed deeply to herself. She looked down. Directly down at her dangling legs clad in dark tight shorts. She _was_ desperate for some cushioning for her fall.

* * *

"Don't you think the goddesses were being kinda racist during creation?"

Kagami turned back slightly to shoot the Kokiri a weird look,"Creation? What? Why?"

"Are you talking about the creation legend, Konata?" Tsukasa asked on her own adjacent horse.

"Yup, you're right Tsukasa." Konata paused for a slight moment before she answered Kagami's question to survey the plains to make sure there weren't any _belligerent creatures_ before continuing the conversation. "I say that because I was wondering how come Hylians can use magic but Kokiri can't?"

"Oh!" Tsukasa already seemed befuddled by the same question too.

"Well, maybe your guys' ocarina skills make up for it?" Kagami replied, now turned around so she could look at her passenger.

"Mmm~, yeah that's what I was thinking earlier, but to tell the truth the arcane arts that are activated by the ocarina are only activated based on the ocarina itself... not the player."

"...What?"

"Well, what I'm trying to say here is that the person doesn't matter when using the ocarina, but _only_ the ocarina matters. Anyone from any race could use the ocarina for stuff as long as they played the song correctly on the right kind of ocarina. So, it's not unique to Kokiri, except that we're the only ones that really know how to make them and the intimate details of different types of ocarinas~... actually there's a rather famous _legend_ about a Hylian that could play the ocarina too!"

"Yeah, not that I don't believe you, but" Kagami shifted her grip on Orlando's reins. "... I bet that legend is as old as the first princess of Hyrule..."

"Hm~. Yeah, that wouldn't surprise me seeing that she's mentioned in the legend too.'

"Wow, so you know all of that Konata?" Tsukasa was easily impressed. Kagami just narrowed her eyes in curiosity while still facing her. It felt kind of awkward for the Kokiri girl.

"Um, no. Sorry to disappoint Tsukasa. We generally start learning the basics around when you're twenty summers old." Kagami returned to facing forwards. Her back was starting to hurt after all.

"Oh no it's okay!"

"Tsukasa!"

"Hm?"

"Let's pick up the pace! I wanna be a bit further north before sundown!"

"Got it Sis!"

"Roger that!"

"Konata, this really doesn't have much to do with you... we would speed up whether you wanted to or not... seeing that your my passenger and all."

"Aha~ a 'rhetorical question'. I know your tricks Kagami~."

"... It was never a question from the start." Kagami tapped the sides of her horse signaling him to speed up. Tsukasa followed suite all the while giggling, and Konata let out a loud whoop as their speed began to increase. Kagami, gripping the reins, just leaned forward a bit more and grinned to herself as the adrenaline rush came on.

* * *

"Excuse me, what are you doing?"

Misao opened her mouth and closed it. Here she was... pants-less (as they were now on the floor to add to her cushioning). It turns out that the other occupant of the room had now made her way out into the hallway and was regarding her curiously... though there was a slight edge in her voice. Misao looked downwards toward the door where she had been earlier in pure horror. Normally, she didn't really give about being in various states of undress, she was a Gerudo after all, but today she was wearing her lucky _pink_ and _lacy_ panties.

Misao, in panic, forgot about what she was doing completely. She accidentally let go of the chandelier and fell to the floor with a loud thump. Her thin shorts did not do much to add to the cushioning of her landing spot (surprise, surprise). One moment she was on her stomach spread eagle and then the next she was already wearing her shorts again. The girl standing across from her quirked an eyebrow at this.

Misao recomposed and dusted herself off and faced the pretty girl across from her. She was dressed in a blue sundress that went with her eyes and currently had a white headband most likely to keep her hair out of her face. Although this girl wasn't exactly bad to look at-Misao was on a mission! Hey, maybe even this girl knew where the princess was! If she found the princess then maybe she could figure out what Nabooru was talking about and then achieve the ultimate goal of any Gerudo®! It sounded like a good enough plan. She opened her mouth with the _original_ intent to ask of the princess' whereabouts...

"Hey! You're _hot_!"

Ayano blinked once. Twice. She was used to compliments from her many suitors such as, "You have beautiful eyes.", or "You have lovely skin." This wasn't exactly what she was used to... Ayano, generally very composed, could feel just about every blood cell rush up to her face.

"So, uh, what's up?" Misao had made her way past her and into the room Ayano was previously in. Misao was looking around the room whist scratching her head trying to figure out what kind of room it was. She saw a fancy king sized bed in the middle of the room... yes, it was purple too. "Nice room you got here."

Ayano had turned back around and looked at the tanned girl with some form of wonder. Wait. What _was _she doing here? Just because she complimented her like that... and she wasn't all that bad loo-ANYWAY-it shouldn't mean that she should let some stranger walk around her room. Ayano turned to her dark skinned invader.

"What's your name?"

"Oh!" Misao looked up from the desk she was inspecting returning her attention back to Ayano. She gave a cocky grin-showing off one of her more fang-like teeth. "Give me your name, and I'll give you mine." **(1)**

_I should definitely call the guards._ Was the main thought in Ayano's mind. As if for the first time she also realized that based on her intruder's clothing that she probably _wasn't_ Hylian. She looked away from her open windows back at the girl now shuffling through the papers on her desk.

"Ayano." At the sound of another voice Misao turned to the speaking girl. Gold met sky blue. A feeling, perhaps you could say, accompanied this.

Misao felt herself smile slightly. This room she was in seemed interesting enough, but the girl that resided in it was a complete wonder. The name "Ayano" definitely _did_ set off warning alarms in her head, but the Gerudo chose to ignore it and she couldn't remember why the name seemed to stick in her memory so well. She'd figure that out eventually. She always did.

"Misao."

After she said her piece her eyes connected with Ayano's again. She felt dizzy. Like some strong force had knocked her about for a second. Misao felt almost stupefied for a second. Almost.

"You're a Gerudo, aren't you?" It wasn't really a question, but not an accusation either. There was a calming gentle tone in Ayano's voice.

"Uh, er... yeah." Misao wanted to walk out of the room, reenter, and have this entire conversation all over again. She had never really fumbled with speech before in her life. So much for being a smooth, fast-talking Gerudo.

"What brings you here Misao?" The Gerudo couldn't take the way Ayano said her voice. She broke off their gazing contest and looked out the nearby window. All she could see is the sky... it was kind of the same color as...

* * *

Konata suddenly straightened up on the horse, slightly startling Kagami. "ONE OF MY COMRADES IS IN DANGER!"

... and badly scaring Kagami's mount as well.

"Whoa! Easy Orlando! Easy!"

The stallion reared up in reflex Kagami almost looked epic for a moment, but with Konata dangling off the horse's end once again that image was quickly obliterated. Tsukasa led her own horse back over to them to check if they were okay. They were fine, but Kagami was quietly scolding Konata about scaring Orlando. Konata was sheepishly apologizing.

"Konata?"

"Yes~?"

"What ... were you talking about before?"

"Tsukasa, don't ask that. I think we're better off _not_ knowing the answer!"

"_Hey_!"

* * *

"Excuse me, chief!"

"Can't ya read, fool?"

"But this is important chief! It's concerning the tall one!"

"Read the sign out loud for me please."

"Oh sure thing chief. It says, 'DO NOT DISTURB'."

"Exactly. So leave."

"What could be so important that you won't hold any meetings?"

"Ohohoho~ do you even deserve to ask that question, young one?"

"I-I'll be going now."

"Please do."

Nanoko heard the villager step away from inside her room. She licked her finger and flipped the next page of the _novel_ she was reading. Truth is, there was nothing they could do about Konata's lack of return to the village. The fact that she heard via ocarina music that she was safe was good enough for the village chief. ... Besides, unlike everyone else residing in the village, she had a pretty good guess as to what happened to Konata. So, she knew she had no need to worry. She was going to miss that crazy tall kid.

The chief flipped another page. She quirked an eyebrow at the text and the accompanied illustration. "Damn, Konata has _such_ good taste."

* * *

Misao's honey eyes darted around the room as if the answer to Ayano's question would suddenly appear. It couldn't be _any_ answer-it had to be the _right_ answer, the kind of answer that wouldn't get her locked up in a dingy dungeon somewhere.

"Misao," Ayano implored. Misao made the mistake of making eye contact with her. Misao liked Ayano's voice, and her striking eyes, ... and her pretty face, and her nice figure, and a-"please tell me the reason for your 'visit'?" Ayano smiled and giggled. Misao snapped out of her ... trance and automatically returned Ayano's smile. She could feel herself calm down and regain composure.

"Well, actually it's a funny story..." Misao searched Ayano's face to see how she was 'doing'. Ayano's face remained relatively impassive, but Misao had a gut feeling that she never would want to be on the receiving side of this girl's bad temper. "Um, I was kind of, sort of looking for the princess...?"

Ayano's eyes showed a subtle amused glint to them, "Oh, are you looking for just any princess? The princess from the land of the east is in one of the grand guestrooms down the stairs I believe." The land of the east's name was actually Termina. It was mostly known as a peaceful nation that held a very close association with the elements, water in particular.

"Termina? Nah, that won't do. I'm looking for the princess of _Hyrule_. Not Termina, sheesh. Who even cares about them?"

"Well, that's not a very nice thing to say. and more importantly..." Ayano was purposefully dragging out her statements now which was slightly grating on the Gerudo's nerves.

"More importantly what?"

"Your search for the princess of Hyrule is over."

"Hah?"

"You're looking at her."

* * *

**(1)** - If you "get" this reference I love you... and your taste in video games.


	7. An Explosive Orientation

o hai guyz. IM SORRY! HERE HAVE AN UPDATE! (SKYWARDSWORDISAWESOME!)

* * *

"This is beginning to feel like the longest two day trip ever! Sis, when are we go-"

"We'll be there in about twenty minutes. See? You can see the town up on the horizon!"

"Ohohohohoho! Anticipatory remarks! The magic of twin power is revealed~!"

"Well, Kona, twins have run in our family for centuries..."

"Tsukasa, that wasn't the 'magic of twin power' she was referring to..."

"Kagami understands me!"

"No. And by the way... since when does Konata go by 'Kona'?"

"Um, I thought it would be a nice nickname for her, sis.."

"_I _originally had another one in mind, but Tsukasa didn't quite like it as much..."

Kagami had a feeling she was going to regret her next question. "... tell us _Konata_ what was this nickname that you so lovingly devised for yourself?"

"**Hero of the panties**."

An unexpected chilly wind blew through the sudden dead silence that encompassed the travelers.

* * *

**-A Thousand Miles of Fire-**

_An Explosive Orientation_

* * *

A fresh red, angry hand mark was visible in the early morning sun on the Kokiri's face. "I still haven't decided whether to capitalize the 'p' in 'panties' or not though..." Konata elaborated to no one in particular. Kagami still seated on her horse ahead of her twitched in response to the comment. Tsukasa felt another migraine coming along.

Thankfully, a savior came. This particular savior happened to come in the form of a small bustling town about twenty yards north of the triad of girls.

"OH! THINE GLORIOUS GOAL OF THE CASTLE TOWN! AT LAST!"

"Shut up! You legitimately have no idea what you're even talking about!" Kagami barked. Patience was pretty much nonexistent.

Tsukasa sighed.

They approached the wooden gate and much to their surprise there were Hylian guards obstructing their path. Hyrule was known as one of the most peaceful kingdoms and hadn't seen war in generations. The castle town was known for being open to travelers. However, this no longer seemed to be the case.

"Halt! I'm sorry to inconvenience you, but recently things were stolen from the castle. We've had to temporarily heighten security for the purpose of catching this culprit. For what purpose do you have for coming here?"

Kagami nudged her horse up first. "My sister and I are enrolled in the School..."

"Please present your enrollment contract then."

"Alright..." Kagami pulled out both her and Tsukasa's contracts. There was no way Tsukasa could be entrusted with her own important documents. The guards checked it over and nodded and returned them both to Kagami.

"Ahem." They stared at Konata pointedly now seeing her. Kagami facepalmed. The one time she actually managed to forget about Konata. "So, why do you wish to enter the castle town?" The guard closer to Kagami asked.

Kagami went pale. She hadn't the time to think of an excuse for Konata. Quickly! How about she sai-

"I'm here to PAR-TAY~!"

"**...**"

Before she knew it Konata was literally booted off the back of Kagami's mare and found herself sampling the dirt once again.

"In the last few days I've been through a lot of rough play..."

The gate shut behind the Hiiragi twins and the guards crossed their pikes in an 'x' to block any further traffic. Kagami, in reflex, looked worriedly behind her to make sure Konata was alright. Tsukasa sent Konata a similar apologetic look. Konata (still chilling spread-eagle in the mud) waved to her casually from her position. As if she were waving them off. Kagami rolled her eyes while Tsukasa laughed nervously and they both refocused on the path ahead of them. They still had to go to orientation after all.

"See you soon Tsukasa! ... Don't forget me Kagmiiiii~!"

For the first time in a while Kagami started giggling-much to her twin's surprise.

* * *

There was a knock on her door. Ayano, _Princess_ Ayano rolled out of her bed weirdly gracefully. She mumbled something to herself and rubbed her eyes to get the sleep out of them and face the cloudy morning. She had slept in a little later than she usually would. She suppressed a small yawn as she approached the great oak door.

"Mornin' Princess~! Officer Yui here just doing her usual rounds!"

The princess put her hand on the door to push it open, but then suddenly heard the sounds of someone snoring. She quickly pivoted to the source of the snoring and saw her Gerudo "friend" stretched out and sleeping soundly. Ayano felt her blood pressure rise. She took her hand off the door and quickly glanced around her room.

"Princess? Everything alright?"

"Y-yeah, just a second Yui..."

Ayano saw one of her shoes that she had uncharacteristically kicked off last night whilst trying to persuade the Gerudo to leave the castle for the night at the very least (for her own safety). Clearly, Ayano regarded the sleeping teen, it didn't work. Fearing the time constraint Ayano made a quick decision and lobbed her shoe at Misao's head. Contact was made.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"Geez, Princess what's taking so long?"

Misao's eyes bugged open realizing that the voice came from the other side of the door, and that the voice probably belonged to a palace official. Hylian palace officials and Gerudos didn't coexist too well.

"Sorry! Almost ready..."

"... Princess, is there a _boy_ in there with you...?"

Misao smirked and opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by the other shoe in the pair hitting her face. Ayano swerved to her angrily with clenched teeth telling her to shut up and hide. Misao looked around the room for a hiding spot and slid under the bed expertly... a little too expertly for Ayano's tastes.

Ayano let her head guard in maintaining her calm façade on the outside with ease. She made to casually turn to her room as naturally as possible, but her eyes quickly scanned the room to confirm Misao's disappearance. Yui made her way over to Ayano's bed and sat down on it as she continued to discuss her training the new recruits. Yui's break only allowed her to be here for about ten more minutes. Misao just needed to be undetected for ten more minutes.

The princess continued to pay attention and remark at the appropriate times in the conversation. She had made for her and Yui. Only three minutes left until Yui would leave. Just three minutes.

Ayano almost choked on her tea when she heard snoring followed by Misao's hand now sticking out from under the bed. Right next to Yui's right foot. Yui chatted on happily.

* * *

"Heyhey, do you guys have anything I can wipe off this mud with?"

"..."

"Okay~then, how about this rag right here then~?"

"H-how did you-"

Konata was suddenly behind one of the guards plucking a clean rag out of his back pocket. She quickly wiped her face off.

"Ah~ that's the stuff. Much better! Thankiez, kind sir-WHOA!"

The blue haired girl jumped in the air to avoid the panicked guards wide swing with his pike. When he swung back around at her neck level intent on KO'ing the Kokiri Konata jumped again, but this time flipped in the air and grabbed the end of the pike and redirected his moment and slammed it into the ground. Thus, getting the pike stuck in the dirt. The guard guffawed and looked over to see why his fellow guard had yet to assist him. He was pinned by his clothes to the adjacent ancient sentry tower by two certain daggers.

The first guard gave up on freeing his current weapon from the ground and drew his sword instead. Konata backed away nervously fully aware of the fact that she was now unarmed. The guard pinned by the aformentioned weapons (aka Konata's "babies") began struggling harder to get loose. He was unaware that his burly physique was actually making the entire rickety structure rock back and forth a bit.

Konata backflipped to the other pinned guards location and while stepping on his face she planted her feet hard into the tower and yanked her weapons back out.

"Heave HO! Gotchya~! Did the babies miss their mommy-"

**_CRACK!_**

The empty sentry tower groaned before leaning towards the town and then finally it began to splinter at the base and fall like a big tree. Both of the guards just dropped their jaws and weapons in shock. The tower seemed to fall in slow motion.

"Oops!"

The three that were brawling all stopped and stared in amazement as the entire sentry tower made contact with the earth. It made a sickening crunch simultaneously kicking up a lot of dust.

Naturally, Konata took that as an opportunity to escape.

* * *

_**CRUNCH!**_

Everyone froze in their seats and even the instructor, finishing up on giving living and dorm details, paused.

_What... was that...?_ Kagami thought with a frantic tone. A few dust motes could be seen in the partial sunlight illuminating the classroom. Everything had gone very quiet-not in a serene way.

They had only left the Kokiri by herself for an hour tops and shit was already going down. She had a feeling she knew who the cause of it was, but she desperately hoped that it wasn't so.

_It's gonna be fine. It's gonna be fine. It's gonna be fi-_

"He-HEY WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING?" Off in the distance out the open window in the classroom the sounds of yelling and scuffling could be heard.

"Kukuku, thou shalt not ever catch me! For I am... _the_ Master of the panty flash®!"

The two twins looked at each other and sighed in sync. No doubt due to their 'magic of twin power' as the blue haired trouble maker would say. The older twin would never admit it, but she hoped that her shorter friend would end up unscathed... for the most part that is.

* * *

Clouds had begun to gather, darken and begin to drizzle. This didn't stop the remaining sentries in the castle town's southern perimeter from equipping themselves and setting up to take the shot on the new threat.

Konata made her way through town for the past hour with absolutely no plan or care in the world. She sidestepped incoming weapon jabs of guards on her heels with ease. It was like an extremely fun game to her.

It _was_ an extremely fun game to her.

She knew she didn't have the strength to disarm the guards nor to land a hit to cause actual damage through their thick Hylian armor. She had to admit that her pursuers seemed strangely persistant. The Kokiri turned the corner by some academic looking buildings only to find yet another group of guards.

"After her! Catch that girl with the blue hair!"

The short girl wondered what her blue hair had to do with anything. She assumed that it must be a rare hair color as she had yet to meet anyone with a similar hue of hair. Continuing to ponder her hair she then mentally grimaced wondering what exactly they were planning on doing with her if she fell into Hyrule's custody.

The forest girl deftly scrambled up onto the roof of a building.

"You will never make _these_ legendary locks into a wig~!"

Her pursuers chose to not even bother dignifying that one with an answer.

Unfortunately, climbing on that roof may have distanced her from her adversaries on the ground, but unbeknownst to Konata she had put herself in clear sight of the Hylian archers-trained magical archers whose weapons of choice are explosive arrows. However, Konata's instincts did kick in and she maneuvered to the edge of the roof to survey her surroundings. Perhaps, if the sound of the rain steadily hitting the tin roof of the grain storage building was on wasn't making so much noise maybe she would have heard the archers testing their bowstrings.

Huffing, Kagami swung the door open of her dormitory to make her way to the market in the center of town to buy some essentials. Seriously, Tsukasa has been so forgetful lately. Not to mention that she had to round up that crazy girl at one point later on too...

Three archers pulled back, arrow set, in unison. Their sights were set on the "girl with blue hair". At once thee hands released their holds on their bowstrings. Due to the rain though one of the archer's grip slipped and the shot's trajectory was now a bit off.

Konata turned to her left and two things caught her eye. 1. the flash in the wet air to tell her that there were three objects-probably arrows-approaching her general position 2. Kagami was literally exiting the building on Konata's lower left.

Time seemed to slow down as the Kokiri then realized that one of the arrows was hurtling towards her friend. Accidentally, overthrowing one of her daggers to deflect the shot away from Kagami. This heroic act was successful as the arrow was knocked 20 yards away from Kagami before it detonated, but it led to the Kokiri to lose her balance and fall off the roof.

Luckily, the master of the panty flash managed to catch herself by driving her other dagger into the side of the building. Mentally congratulating herself on doing on a _sturdy_ looking building this time.

That was when the other two arrows made contact with the building.

She thought she could hear someone scream her name over the din of the explosion. Maybe.

* * *

"... and you wouldn't believe how stinky it was!"

The princess laughed at the cheeky Gerudo's story. She was already becoming very fond of the energetic desert dweller, but she was really beginning to worry about her new friend getting caught by her own imperial forces. Just how long was she planning on staying in the castle for...?

The desert girl continued to tell her story of how she and her Kokiri friend got a Zora drunk one time at one of their tribe gatherings. Misao was perched comfortably on the princess' windowsill as she talked letting a sheepish smile show on her tanned face. Ayano felt her heart flutter.

_Uh, what?...!_

Before the princess of Hyrule's thoughts could take a more ... dangerous turn, her ruminations were interrupted by the sounds of heavy, brisk approaching footfalls. Assuming it to be one of her guards, Ayano pivoted to tell Misao to hide, but the girl had already disappeared. Ayano desperately hoped that the Gerudo had not chosen to hide under her bed again.

Moments later Ayano's door was wrenched open and the princess once again met with her head guard Yui.

"Princess, there has been an unauthorized person in the castle town. We dispatched the archers and just finally apprehended her."

"Since when did people need authorization to enter the castle town to begin with?" Ayano crossed her arms in frustration. She had a feeling where this mandate was handed down from.

"It was a mandate from the council, your majesty. It seems that they believe there is a thief in our midst as valuable table centerpieces are disappearing from around the castle as of late." Yui had automatically changed to her formal explanatory tone to her liege.

It took all of Ayano's self-control not to glare in the general direction of her guest. She was well aware of the fact that Misao was from a tribe of revered "demon _thieves_".

"... Alright. Well, that aside. Why were the archers dispatched without my word? Where is the justification for that? The archers are one of our more higher ranking forces. It was only _one _intruder, correct?"

"Ah... yes."

"So?... From what I understand the archers fired without consent."

The blonde beauty was not happy to hear this news. The archers had to receive her permission to fire due to the highly explosive nature of their weapons there was generally high amounts of collateral damage done to the town. She didn't want to endanger her townspeople over petty reasons such as a minor intrusion.

"The archers _did_ fire with consent."

Ayano could feel her blood boil. She as the crowned princess and the only living member of the royal family had the exclusive right to grant permission. Not even the council, under any circumstances with the exception of her death, could give consent for the deployment and use of the upper echelons of the Imperial forces.

"_Whose_?"

"Under article four section six of the Recovery Mandates..." Ayano racked her brains for that particular piece of legislation. She was very small when it was originally passed, days after her father's assassination. It was passed by the council and the King's former advisors. "... therein if an individual that crosses into castle town borders that could potentially or be a member of the Izumi clan all force necessary has consent to be utilized in order to capture them... preferably alive for questioning."

"That's _bullshit_!" The very room seemed to shutter at the sight of the princess' extremely rare but terrifying temper. "That clan has ceased to exist for almost two decades now. They're practically a legend or a fairy tale!" The princess searched by her desk to find a copy of this legislation so that she could examine the article cited and begin to look for the loophole that was clearly used to grant consent to the archers.

"With all due respect, your majesty, the intruder had the movements and the telltale blue hair of the Izumi clan..."

Ayano dropped her tome of legislation. Blue hair was the defining quality of the Izumi clan. No one in all of Hyrule's lands possessed that hair color except for them. The princess' face showed visible shock for a few moments, but then she turned to Yui calmly.

"Is she alive?"

"Yes, she's knocked out for now, but we expect her to come around soon."

From her hiding spot in the closet (Yup, the closet.) Misao couldn't help but recall that one of her closest friends had a hair color that was a rare shade of blue.

* * *

When the Kokiri first came to she thought she was back home in a deeper area of the Lost Woods with the trees at their thickest thus blocking out most of the sunlight. However, as her eyes adjusted to the dingy, moldy and drippy area she realized that she was housed in some sort of underground manmade structure.

Rubbing the bruised right shoulder that she had landed on from the blast, Konata eased herself up from her previously prone position on the floor. She blearily inspected herself for any major injuries besides some nasty bruises here and there and found none. She immediately checked her right wrist and was relieved to see her bracelet still there. However, her hands then flew to her sides to find them empty.

She was missing her weapons. Standing up, she realized that she was in a cell and through the rusted bars she could see the twin scabbards of her weapons lying on the table across from her cell along with her satchel that contained her ocarina-not that she had a use for it in the present moment anyway. With the exception of the occasional drop, probably due from the rain above, she heard nothing but her own breathing. It practically felt like every inhale and exhale echoed throughout.

There didn't seem to be a guard on duty at the moment. Being optimistic Konata tried to open her cell door but to no avail. She wondered if it was even capable of opening in the first place due to the amount of rust in the bars and door itself.

Konata sat back down on the solitary wooden stool in her cell. She had no idea how long she had even been out for, nor did she have any way of telling what time of day it even was. Worst of all the moldy air and the lack of sunlight was really starting to get to her. This place was beyond creepy.

Her whole cell block seemed to be empty though. Hyrule wasn't exactly a land filled with crime after all. She doubt this place got much use, if ever. For a moment Konata wondered if they had perhaps had already forgotten her. Although she doubted it due to the little fireworks display the town witnessed in order to take her down. The Kokiri did feel a decent amount of pride recalling that.

Her mind switched to wondering whether Kagami was alright. One of the last things she saw was her successful deflection of the misguided arrow, but still the explosions were pretty rough. Kagami was a tough_ tsundere_ though so she had some confidence in the girl.

Still there were no other signs of life in the vicinity. It was starting to unnerve the Kokiri, who had been around living things such as trees, plants, and more recently an angry _tsundere_, for most of her life. Everything was so damn dusty. Yuck.

"Now would be a grand time to let me out and let me know what's going on~!"

* * *

The princess walked swiftly down the plush hallway making her way to the old practically abandoned prison grounds. Yui was trotting at her side escorting her. A guard with his post at the entrance had notified her that he heard sounds of movement in the prison-most likely indicating that the prisoner was awake and ready for communication, hopefully.

Ayano wondered briefly just what Misao was doing now that she had left her alone in her room. She had trust in Misao despite her background and race. The girl seemed pretty harmless in actuality. Ayano just really wanted to know how the _hell_ she got into her chambers to begin with? Misao, knowing her, would probably never giver her a satisfactory answer though. Misao and now this girl... a lot of strange things were happening lately. Ayano sighed and refocused her thoughts back to the present situation.

"What's this girl's name?"

"... ah well, she called herself the 'master of the panty flash'..."


End file.
